The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in the South-West has urged the federal government to bring to book the perpetrators of the pipeline vandalism, which occurred on Saturday in Idimu, Lagos.

The chairman, IPMAN, South-West, Dele Tajudeen, pleaded in an interview in Ibadan on Sunday.

He noted that Idimu was one of the routes where the pipeline to Lagos Satellite Depot was laid.

Mr Tajudeen noted that all five depots in Lagos Satellite Depot, Mosimi Depot, Ilorin Depot, Ibadan Depot and Ore Depot had been moribund for upward of five years.

The IPMAN chairman said some of the depots have stopped functioning for 10 years and 15 years due to the vandalism of pipelines by criminals.

“When the government through the NNPC could no longer bear it owing to the fuel losses they recorded on the pipelines, all the depots were abandoned.

“The government has lost billions of naira to the vandalism of pipelines in those depots,“ he noted.

The IPMAN chair said about three months ago, IPMAN appealed to the NNPC to reopen at least the Lagos Satellite Depot at Ejigbo, which they agreed to after much pleading.

“It was, however, noticed that there is always a shortage in the quantity sent to the depot,“ he said.

Mr Tajudeen disclosed that security operatives arrested some people siphoning fuel from the Ejigbo pipeline on two occasions.

He praised the Rapid Response Squad of the Nigerian Police Force and other security agencies operating in the state for their steadfastness.

Mr Tajudeen, however, urged the federal government to treat cases of oil theft and vandalism with the seriousness they deserved as they amounted to economic sabotage.

He said prosecuting suspects would serve as a deterrent to other criminally minded people and help to curb pipeline vandalism in the country. 

(NAN)